Visita Iglesia

We had Visita Iglesia last Maundy Thursday. The last time we did this was three years ago, and we didn't even have the prayer booklet with us which we didn't know we were supposed to read for every station of the cross inside the churches. What we did then was to just pray inside every church that we visited. This time, we bought the booklet, although we weren't able to go to seven churches --- the intention was to pray at two stations for each church, but we only got to visit five.

Our first stop was the Manila Cathedral. There were lots of people that we had to line up just to go inside. There were also plenty of tourists who wanted to experience Holy Week traditions in the Philippines. And of course, there were also lots of Filipino entrepreneurs who took advantage of the large number of people in the streets with their food stalls, assorted accessories, and a lot more.

Our next stop was the San Agustin Church. The stations of the cross were set up outside so the church was not so crowded.

The third church that we visited was the St. Vincent de Paul Parish. Our Visita Iglesia wouldn't be complete without visiting this church because this is where we got married 17 years ago, and where our three children were baptized.

Next on the list would have been the Paco Church but it was closed. Strange for a church to be closed during Holy Week. So, we moved on to the next one on the list, the Ermita Church. Actually, this was the first time that I heard of this Church. We weren't able to go inside because there was an ongoing mass and the church was small and too crowded.

Last stop was the Malate Church. We were supposed to visit two more churches, but it was already getting late and we were starving. We didn't want to eat in the nearby restaurants --- although my son was already eyeing one --- so we decided to make this our last stop, and then we went home.



It was a different kind of experience, and we plan to do it again next year, and hopefully we will be able to visit seven churches.